Ivar paused and looked at the group.

"Still, I thought I could expect some quality in people this time. But too bad, almost half of you are utter disappointments.

"

His words stunned not just the contestants, but the audience as well. The whole arena and spectators turned silent. One can hear a pin drop.

"Anyway, the show must go on. The tournament rules are pretty simple. I am sure none of you are stupid enough for me to explain how a sixteen-person tournament works.

The only thing I will mention is that there are few limits on you in this battle. Even the arena boundaries are just for show. As long as you don't leave this area of the academy, you can fight to your heart's content.

If you were thrown off the stage, you can just come back on to it and fight.

The fight stops only when one of you is crippled, in a comatose state, surrenders, or dead. The surrender is only verbal. So, unless you voiced it out loud, you will still be part of the fight. There are no limits to your weapons as well.

If you want to kill someone, go ahead. Kill them.

If you have a Divine weapon that you begged from an Elder at your Academy that will help your combat state, go ahead and use it. You might be considered a coward, but you wouldn't be considered a loser according to the tournament rules.

The fight has no time limits.

One fight will take place at a time. There should be no external involvement. If any tries, they have me to deal with.

I am the one and only judge and referee for the tournament. Even if involvement. If any tries, they have me to deal with.

I am the one and only judge and referee for the tournament. Even if the Dean of the Thor Academy comes down from his comfy throne, he still doesn't have a say in this.

"

Utter silence.

Sam almost heard the Crickets.

He couldn't help but chuckle. The faces of everyone as they nervously glanced at Olaf are hilarious, to say the least. Ivar gave no **s.

Ivar paused and looked at the audience. His gaze landed on a freshman who looked like a nerd and to be fair, he is. He is one of the high rankers in the Inscription competition. The young man was stunned and gulped.

He pointed his finger at himself and asked.

"M… Me..?

"

"Yeah, come on.

"

The kid came onto the stage. Ivar waved his hand and sixteen metal plates flew out. Along with them, eight squares purely condensed of energy floated in front of him.

"Pick two random cards in each square. You are deciding the first-round draws.

"

The kid nodded and placed the cards at random. Right now, nothing is on the cards. They looked empty. Once they were all placed in the squares, the cards finally revealed themselves.

Each card has the name of one contestant.

Ivar got a good look at them and announced the first match.

"Thor Versus Sam.

"

There was a small silence in the surroundings. Even the kid who picked the cards seemed surprised. His expression said something was wrong. But no one voiced out anything. Because they could almost see blood condensing out of thin air purely from Ivar's killing intent.

Clearly, he is not going to hear anyone's nonsense.

Sam stretched his hands lazily as he walked onto the stage. It is great to warm up right up front and he is glad that he managed to get Thor in the very first draw.

Because most of the top sixteen contestants are related to him.

Watt, Jack, Philip, Vidyuth, Saber Monarch, Paras, Five Elemental King. Including him, that is eight of them. If that is not enough, now Noah is here. And Bronte managed to slip through the cracks and land in this spot.

That is ten people.

Out of the remaining Six, White is a contender. He might even reach finals if he didn't get hit by any hidden surprises. Thor managed to get in as well, based on pure luck. So, there are only four expendable candidates, who all looked nervous.

Clearly, these four didn't think they could get this far. They only managed to get in because Sam destroyed everyone worth their salt. He and his friend hunted them down. Gathered them together and then played around him with their lives as they pleased.

Sam bounced on his toes a couple of times as Thor came forward slowly.

It is apparent that he is reluctant to face Sam this early in the game. He wanted to scream that Ivar is acting biased and the game is rigged. That would be pot calling the kettle black and he is scared of Ivar.

When he finally stepped on the stage, he managed to fish out a determined expression.

"You can start the fight now.

"

Ivar said as he got off the stage.

Thor took out that Electric blue hammer from the start. His body returned to that weird fusion state. His aura is a weird fusion of chaos and stability. He wanted to see some nervous expression on Sam's face.

At least, some vigilance would have helped.

However, all he saw is a creepy grin. Almost like a wolf.

Silver lightning flashed and surrounded Sam. He is also using lightning element. Thor specialty. For three seconds, neither of them moved. The audience looked in anticipation. On the fourth second, Sam made his move.

*BOOM*

His leg muscles bulged and left a crack on the stage.

He threw himself into the air. Thor did the same. Two huge balls of lightning one of Silver and the other of Blue clashed. Both of them didn't dodge and met each other's blows head-on.

As the hammer came swinging down like a meteor, Sam caught it with his palm.

*BOOM*

Silver and Blue lightning flashed. Both of them were pushed back from the recoil. Since Sam was stopping the hammer that hit down, the recoil sent him down. Thor kicked his legs in the air.

*BOOM*

He stopped himself from losing balance and came forward with another hammer strike. Sam once again blocked it with his palm and this time the recoil pushed him down straight. Sam landed on his feet.

*BOOM*

The stage cracked. He jumped once again and threw a punch which was met with the hammer strike.

Thor stumbled back because of the force, while Sam was thrown away a bit. But the one who was surprised is Thor and the Elders from his Academy. The specialty of the hammer is such.

It belonged to one of the previous Deans who was known as the Warlord of the Thor Academy. He is so good in the battlefield that Thor felt it would be a loss if stayed a Dean. He was relieved and promoted to be a general in Thor's Army.

He got this hammer custom-made from the materials retrieved from a very special mutant beast that was known to be rare among the rarest creatures. The hammer head is made from a special alloy made of the blood iron of that beast and a rare metal that was given by Thor as a gift. The handle is made out of the bone of the beast.

The spirit of the beast was sealed in the stone and it gives out this special power to the wielder. The patterns that are on Thor's body is because of this. His physical strength in this form is something beyond anyone could muster in his peers.

At least that is what they believed until now.

Right now, Sam is trading blows with that hammer and they could feel that Sam's physical strength is much more active than his lightning element at this moment.

This put some huge cracks in Thor's worldview. He wondered how those punches would feel if they hit him directly on his body.

*BOOM*

He couldn't even finish his thought.

Sam started raining punches. Once he got the upper hand, he decided to go ahead and deal with Thor.

His fist and the hammer met. With an explosion, Thor was off balance, he could feel the impact in his core. He made a 360-degree turn. It took a lot before he could regain his balance.

*SWISH*

He barely managed to avoid a punch aimed at his head.

However, it still didn't negate Sam's advantage. He noticed that the intensity of lightning around Sam increased and his muscles seemed to have bulged a bit more. They looked more concentrated. He gained a higher altitude and jumped over to throw a punch at Thor.

*BOOM*

He blocked the fist with the hammer.

But he still went backward.

*BOOM*

Sam kept going forward. With every punch the lightning increased its intensity, and his muscles felt and looked stronger. With every punch, both of them moved down towards the stage inch by inch.

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*CRASH*

Soon, Thor crashed into the ground. He fell down and the runes on his started fluctuating. By now Sam had partial fusion activated. He is panting slightly. His eyes looked sharper and his canines were a bit grown out.

It's Raiju's bloodline in action.

Sam channeled a lot of energy in each of his punches and he didn't want to stop.

He locked in another punch as he spoke.

"A Divine Weapon? Did I force you to do this? Yeah, I forced you. Forced you to be a bitch.

"

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

*BOOM*

Sam hammered punches one after another on the hammerhead. The lightning flashes of both colors grew exponentially.